VA - Liminal (2018)

following ‘liminal’ soundbaths in los angeles and reykjavík – and with more live ambient music happenings coming right up – sigur rós frontman jónsi joins long-term musical collaborators, alex somers and paul corley, in releasing the first chapter of an ‘endless’ liminal mixtape on digital services today.

liminal is more than an ambient sigur rós mixtape curated by jónsi, alex somers & paul corley, however. it approaches sigur rós as a living, breathing eco-system, identifying the connections and blurring the boundaries between work done and work to come; between brand new music and ideas barely yet born; between songs written 20 years ago and collaborations to be made tomorrow.

?in bringing together these collaborations and commissions with solo work and the work of close friends in the sigur rós ‘family’, liminal aims to take the listener to a hinterland, to the threshold of a place neither nor there; a “liminal” space.

“liminal is a musical thread that binds us together; the sounds that we all found inside of ourselves from a young age,” say alex somers. “it’s a music that is patient. sounds unfold in front of you and momentarily offer to show the world from a different angle.”

intended to be added to frequently and endlessly, the first liminal mixtape to go live lasts an hour and includes brand new music from jónsi in the form of ‘above, below (alex somers remix)’, a piece written for underwater speakers and designed to be heard while fully submerged in a swimming pool.

paul corley introduces the textural, asmr-esque beauty of ‘flux’ and elsewhere deconstructs sigur rós’s ‘untitled 6 (aka e-bow)’ from the ( ) album, to create a nebulous sonic leviathan.

“my e-bow remix is conceived to be sort of an underbelly, in-between or shadow version of the original,” says paul. “it’s not just a “here, have the stems” remix. there is a concept and ideology, and my future liminal remixes will follow the same path.”

alex somers contributes three new songs, hot on the heels of his fêted ‘hang the dj’ black mirror soundtrack. there’s also the uncanny sound of europe’s largest ice-cap, vatnajökull, creaking and cracking, as captured by nature recordist chris watson.